This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 1, 2014

'They say you can''t go home again. I think "they" are wrong. After much thought and consideration, I''ve decided that the best move for my career right now is a second stint as an analyst at Union Square Ventures. By the end of the day, I will have formally completed their analyst application. Why now? Why go back to a job I first took nine years ago when things are going so well for me and I''m running my own fund, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.

peer-to-peer 294

peer-to-peer ventures venture capital accelerator 294

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

'Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. My first startup was no different. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

culture 382

culture startup support consulting 382

Gust

MARCH 30, 2014

'Image via Startup Professionals. First things first – your startup needs a name! This may seem a silly and frivolous task, but it may be the most important decision you make. The name of your business has a tremendous impact on how customers and investors view you, and in today’s small world, it’s a world-wide decision. Please don’t send me any more business plans with TBD or NewCo in the title position.

entrepreneurs 174

entrepreneurs networking startup founder investing 174

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 3, 2014

Last week, we analyzed the fund raising history of billion dollar SaaS companies and determined SaaS startups are raising nearly twice as much capital as 16 years ago before going public. Given that trend, I wondered if there is there any truth to the idea that startups today require less capital than before to succeed. To answer that question, I’ve taken the same basket of public SaaS companies and computed a revenue-on-invested-capital (ROIC) across the four 4-year IPO cohorts from 1998-

capital 40

capital SaaS startup investing 40

Advertisement

Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.

technology

For Entrepreneurs

APRIL 1, 2014

'This article is part of a series titled “The Art & Science of Growth Hacking” that will be published over time. My thanks to Gail Goodman, the founder and CEO of Constant Contact for introducing me to this concept. Free trials and freemium products are two of the best ways to sell your product. They […].

SaaS 167

SaaS founder 167

Gust

MARCH 29, 2014

'It doesn’t work that way. A convertible note and an equity round are two different things, done for different reasons. In most cases, the former is a quick way to get some money in the door in anticipation of the latter. A large majority of serious investors will insist on an equity round, either lightly documented (such as a Series Seed) or fully documented (such as an NVCA Model Series A).

financing 154

financing finance investing investment 154

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 2, 2014

One of the cloud’s great promise has been cost-reduction and for a while, we’ve chanted a mantra that startups require less capital than before to get started and ultimately succeed. As the number of publicly traded SaaS companies has grown with time, it’s possible today to examine whether those statements are proven in the data, at least for those 41 publicly traded companies.

SaaS 40

SaaS financing finance VC 40

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 31, 2014

'You''ve never run a company or raised money before. Sure, you''ve built little projects and there was that lemonade stand when you were little, but this is for real. Real money is showing up at your door and you''re in the enviable position of getting to choose who you work with. Even if you haven''t gotten offers yet, your time is valuable and you can''t pitch everyone.

VC 344

VC pitching venture capital capital 344

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

'One of the hardest things for most entrepreneurs to know is how hard to push in situations where people tell you “no.” But then again most entrepreneurs fail. There is that rare breed that doesn’t accept “no” for an answer. It is impossible advice to give because there is such a fine line between being persistent and being annoying and it’s something you probably can’t teach.

advice 389

advice VC leadership entrepreneurs 389

Advertisement

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

development

Gust

APRIL 2, 2014

'The challenge you face is that there are other amazing ideas out there. Actually, there are many, many, brilliant, wonderful, amazing ideas out there. So faced with all these amazing ideas, investors invariably choose the ones that have been reduced to practice, developed traction of some kind and proved that they are amazing businesses , not just ideas.

venture capital 137

venture capital VC entrepreneurs investing 137

Derek Sivers

MARCH 29, 2014

I get emails from many people who want to make a big change in their career. Each one wants to quit their current career, and boldly leap into their new venture or preferred lifestyle. When they ask my advice, they think I’m going to say, “Yes! Quit! Go for it!”. But instead, they’re surprised at my suggestion: Remember how Tarzan swings through the jungle?

advice 54

advice support ventures 54

Fink About It

APRIL 4, 2014

In part two of this series I wrote about how I believe that founding CEOs who are deep domain experts are the best at getting to product-market fit in a capital efficient way. I profiled ServiceChannel’s CEO’s 30+ year history solving problems in the contractor and facility management space. In this post I will profile [.]. The post Pinpointing Problems Worth Solving (Part Three of Three) appeared first on Fink About It.

capital 58

capital VC 58

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

'There’s an old joke in software development, “How much time does it take to design software?” Answer: As long as you have scheduled for the design phase. I know. Not funny, “ha, ha” but pretty apropos. If you’ve been involved with a number of software projects you already have an intuitive sense for this. We’ve all been involved with projects that seem to drift and drift and make progress.

creativity 344

creativity leadership board energy 344

Advertisement

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

opportunity

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 31, 2014

As I’ve described in a previous post , this blog’s goal is to create and sustain relationships with readers across the startup landscape. Tuning the engine is proving much harder than I expected and I suspect that content marketers are facing similar issues. For example, over the past 18 months I’ve witnessed a halving of RSS subscribers to this blog.

sustainability 40

sustainability startup 40

Berkonomics

APRIL 3, 2014

'We’ve spoken of financing a young company through friends and family, known as “inside angels.” There are three classes of equity investors for early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. Often grouped into formal organizations, these investors are sophisticated, helpful, and connected. First, angel investment groups come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of three hundred or more.

financing 92

financing finance startup angel capital 92

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 30, 2014

Last week, I had a surreal experience with Uber. It was mid-morning on Friday and I pushed a button to request an UberX as I walked out of Sightglass, the coffee shop deep in the South of Market district. When the car arrived a few minutes later, I got in. Without saying a word, the driver passed me his iPhone. Confused, I looked up from my emails and he mouthed to me, “I am deaf.

technology 40

technology 40